Kickstart ROMS

[lymang]

The A2000 I have is working.  I have done a functionality test and it seems to be fully functional.  It has Kickstart 1.2.  Should I upgrade to 1.3?  How would I do so? Is it a chip upgrade?  Is there a vendor I can buy the chips from?  How much should I expect to pay?  Any advice on this topic would be appreciated.

The accelerator w/HD controller and RAM has a HD with a 1.3 Workbench bootable partition (the seller told me that, anyway) but I am guessing I need Kickstart 1.3 to get that to work correctly?
Any tips/advice would be appreciated.

Lyman

[TjLaZer]

Yes you need KS 1.3 to autoboot from HDs.  You can get a copy of the ROM from your local dealer.  They are very cheap.  I have a Kickstart 2.04 ROM I can sell you if you'd like.

[lymang]

TjLaZer wrote:
Yes you need KS 1.3 to autoboot from HDs.  You can get a copy of the ROM from your local dealer.  They are very cheap.  I have a Kickstart 2.04 ROM I can sell you if you'd like.

Not meaning to sound ignorant... what is "from your local dealer"?  From my local Amiga dealer?I am unaware of anyone at all in this area (for that matter I haven't heard of an American Amiga dealer since I worked at one in 1986) selling any Amigas, or Amiga hardware/software at all.

On the subject of those 2.0.4 ROMS, isn't it possible that I will have compatibility issues with some older games if I move to that new a version of the KS ROMS?  I am (after all) out to do this solely to play some of my favorite old Amiga games and I would hate to hamstring myself that way...

Lyman

[TjLaZer]

Well I don't know where or what country you are in, but most larger countries have atleast 1 Amiga dealer.  Or you can contact one of these dealers even if you don't live there.  Here in the USA, Software Hut has these for sale.

-edit- I reread your post and am assuming you are in the USA and yes there are a few good dealers left the largest and best is Software Hut, in guess where?  Pennsylvania!

Yes with Kickstart 2.0x there is a software compatibility issue with older games, so you are better off with Kickstart 1.3, or if you want you can get a Kickstart switcher too.

[Chain]

buy any wrecked a500 and rip it from board !
cheapest solution i think

[lymang]

TjLaZer wrote:
Well I don't know where or what country you are in, but most larger countries have atleast 1 Amiga dealer.  Or you can contact one of these dealers even if you don't live there.  Here in the USA, Software Hut has these for sale.

-edit- I reread your post and am assuming you are in the USA and yes there are a few good dealers left the largest and best is Software Hut, in guess where?  Pennsylvania!

Yes with Kickstart 2.0x there is a software compatibility issue with older games, so you are better off with Kickstart 1.3, or if you want you can get a Kickstart switcher too.

Thanks!  I have ordered 1 of each set of those Kickstart ROMS (for good measure) and will work with the 1.3's for good measure to start with.  Later if I determine I can get certain games working without problems i will put in the 2.04 or 2.05 chips.  I figure they can also act as backups in case of issues.

Are Kickstart Switchers hardware toggles I assume?  What level of expertise would be required to install one in the A2000?

My thanks for your detailed reply.  That helps a lot.

Lyman

P.S. Yes, correct, I am in the U.S. (North Carolina).  I really didn't know if you meant that there were actual local stores that would carry Amigas, I was at least somewhat familiar with Software Hut's existence, nice to know though that they had what I wanted.

[adolescent]

lymang wrote:

Are Kickstart Switchers hardware toggles I assume?  What level of expertise would be required to install one in the A2000?

It's no harder than installing the Kickstart ROM.  You just put the ROM(s) on the switcher, and plug the switcher into the original ROM socket.  There's usually either a switch to install (for manually switching) or a jumper to another chip (for keyboard control).  

[Roman78]

I saw a 3.1 at ebay netherlands. But i don't know if it works on an A2000. There is written that it's for an A4000. At the moment it's at € 2,22.

[orange]

If its for A4000 than its not for A2000. Vesalia has A500/A2000/A600 version of KS3.1

[patrik]

@lymang:

If you are going for anything more recent than kick1.3, get yourself kick3.1. It is more compatible and faster compared to 2.04.

Also if you want to use your network-card , you will need atleast kick2.04 as there are no available tcp/ip-stacks that works under 1.3 except a never publically released version of the obsolete as225.

Kick2.04 and above is a _big_ step from kick1.3, more or less a total overhaul of everything and many applications require will require atleast kick2.04. You can find info about different versions here.

In other words I would recommend that you go for 3.1 directly. The few games that doesnt work, you can install with WHDLoad.


/Patrik

[motorollin]

Agreed - 3.1 is much better and WHDLoad is EXCELLENT and will solve most of your game incompatability problems.

moto

[orange]

If you have enough RAM, try softkicking 3.1, it should speed up things as RAM is faster than ROM.

[motorollin]

orange wrote:
If you have enough RAM, try softkicking 3.1

...if you own the 3.1 ROM chip already...

--
moto

[lymang]

patrik wrote:
@lymang:

If you are going for anything more recent than kick1.3, get yourself kick3.1. It is more compatible and faster compared to 2.04.

Also if you want to use your network-card , you will need atleast kick2.04 as there are no available tcp/ip-stacks that works under 1.3 except a never publically released version of the obsolete as225.

Kick2.04 and above is a _big_ step from kick1.3, more or less a total overhaul of everything and many applications require will require atleast kick2.04. You can find info about different versions here.

In other words I would recommend that you go for 3.1 directly. The few games that doesnt work, you can install with WHDLoad.


/Patrik

Hm.  That's all well and good, but now I will need to find a source for Kickstart 3.1 ROMS as Software hut didn't have more than 2.0.5 as far as I could see.  For the moment I'm going to go with baby steps.  I would like to get that Kickstart switcher mentioned earlier in the thread as that would probably be nice to have.  I guess I'll have to hunt around some.

Thanks for the information!

Lyman

[orange]

..or have Amiga Forever